“I take what’s in my past and put it in my body, my life is proof that no matter what situation you’re in, as long as you have a supportive family, you can achieve anything.“-Michaela DePrince

Before the prestigious dance companies, standing ovations and countless accolades, beautiful teen Ballerina, Michaela DePrince from Sierra Leone, experienced debilitating tragedies that no child should be faced with, but as with all tragedies they can either break or make the person you will become…Michaela chose the latter. For all of those not familiar with the horrific details of Michaela’s past, in this candid interview with Giannella Garrett for Teen Vogue, Michaela shows us the true face of courage, perseverance and faith in following a passion despite the odds.

Pick an afternoon on any day of the week, and chances are you’ll find Michaela DePrince in front of a wall of mirrors. It’s not a vanity thing. “I personally hate them,” says the seventeen-year-old rising ballerina, “but they help me focus on every detail when I’m working on technique.” Whether she’s gliding across the floor en pointe in class at American Ballet Theatre’s prestigious Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School in New York City or rehearsing for an upcoming gala performance, she perfects each movement through the looking glass.

Michaela landed a coveted spot in ABT’s pre-professional division in 2010 after making an appearance at the annual Youth America Grand Prix, the world’s largest student ballet competition—and a camera crew trailed her for an entire year leading up to the big event. She’s one of the stars of the new documentary First Position, which has won multiple awards on the film festival circuit. (For more information on the movie, visit balletdocumentary.com.) Released in select theaters in May, it follows six gifted young dancers who face immense pressure and fierce competition as they vie for a place in an elite ballet company or school. For Michaela, however, the journey to becoming a ballerina at the JKO School is about much more than just hard work and sacrifice; hers is truly an against-all-odds story.

Long before she was on the path to pursuing her dance dreams, she lived in a total nightmare. Michaela was born in Sierra Leone, a small West African country that was ravaged by civil war between 1991 and 2002. When Michaela was just three, her beloved father—”I was a daddy’s girl,” she says—was shot and killed by rebels. Only a week later, her mom died from starvation. An uncle whisked Michaela away to an orphanage, where she became known as Number 27. “We were all ranked from the most favored to the least, and I was at the very bottom for being rebellious and having a skin condition called vitiligo, which produces white freckles on my neck and chest,” she says. “They called me ‘devil child.’ ” She shared a grass sleeping mat with Number 26, a girl named Mia, who was shunned for being left-handed; the two became inseparable.

Horrific violence was the norm each day, according to Michaela, who painfully remembers witnessing the brutal killing of the one teacher at the orphanage who cared for her. “She was pregnant, and the rebels, whom we called ‘debils,’ grabbed her as she left the school grounds. I squeezed through the rails of the gate and tried to go to her rescue, but I was very small and no help at all,” she recalls. “The debils bet on whether her baby was a boy or girl. Then one of them slit her open, pulled out the baby and threw it away, and then cut off my teacher’s arms and left her to die. For years afterward, I feared being chased by debils.“

One windy day, a magazine with a cover photograph of a beautiful, smiling ballerina in a tutu and pointe shoes swept up against a fence in the yard where Michaela played. She tore off the cover and hid it underneath her clothing. “I was in such a bad situation, so the fact that this person was so happy and enjoying life—it made me hope that I could be that happy someday,” she says. When a couple from New Jersey arrived soon afterward to adopt Mia, they were told that Michaela would never find a home, so they adopted her too. “My rebelliousness in Sierra Leone helped me survive there, and it stayed with me until I moved to the States and realized I was in a safe place with caring parents,” she says.

After a fruitless search through her new mom’s handbag for toe shoes, Michaela showed her…to read much more on Michaela’s triumph and inspiring story from Teen Vogue, including battling racism, clickhere

Wow!! Thanks for sharing Cipriana. This was amazing, inspirational and touching! She did what was necessary to survive, it was the only way she knew how to cope and look where it has gotten her! Look at her now!!! If it wasn’t for her rebelliousness who knows where she would have been now?

boazwife

Out of such pain…utter beauty, thanks for the article!!!

Francesca

Oh wow!!

TK Wonder

Wow her perseverance and courage is incredibly remarkable. What a great and inspiring story to share.

http://www.believebeautonomy.com/ Asia Monique Mays

WOW. She is so very strong and for her to be able to speak on such trials…is so very powerful. Much love to her.

Antoinette

Amazing talent. I watched First Position and she was totally awesome; her story is inspirational as well. Excellent feature!

Nafisa

As a fellow Sierra Leonean, I applaud Michaela for having the strength and perseverance to not only retain her sanity after witnessing the horrors perpetrated by those “debuls” but to attain the remarkable achievement of being a successful ballerina. What an inspiration.